Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Victims of crime awarded restitution in Iowa do not get the full amount and some attorneys and prosecutors are looking to change that law.
According to a KTVO report, approximately 25% of restitution payments to victims go to a debt collection company.
“Every county can set up a county attorney collection program. If a county does set up a county attorney collection program, then delinquent court debt, that can be fines, fees, victims’ restitution, would all go to the county attorney’s office for collections,” Mahaska County Attorney Andrew Ritland told KTVO in a report published on Feb. 11. “When it goes to the county attorney’s office there are no additional fees charged, it’s all handled internally, and any money that we collect first and foremost goes to victim restitution. It is only after victims have been fully paid that the state of Iowa or any other entity gets the funds.”
Ritland, along with Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding and other prosecutors, according to the report, support the change.
The supporters would like the state Legislature to make the change, so that crime victims get the full restitution amount.
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